ORDER :

By this petition, the petitioner has challenged order dated 31st October 2023 passed by the respondent-Assistant Registrar of Trade Marks, refusing an application filed on behalf of the petitioner for inclusion of its registered trade mark/TikTok in the list of well known marks under Rule 124 of the Trade Mark Rules 2017. It is the case of the petitioner that the statutory provisions of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and Rules framed thereunder, were not taken into consideration in a proper perspective by the said respondent while passing the impugned order.

Before referring to the rival submissions, it would be appropriate to briefly refer to the relevant facts.

The petitioner is a technology company operating a range of content platforms, including a platform/mobile application bearing the mark TikTok. It is undisputed that TikTok is a registered trade mark. It is stated that TikTok is a social media video application for creating and sharing short talent videos. The videos are allowed to be created by the users of the application on short music and lip-syncing videos for uploading on the application.

The application was launched worldwide in the year 2017 and it employs Artificia